Bills Beat Blog

By Joe Buscaglia

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Bills Beat Blog: July 14, 2011

by Joe Buscaglia,posted Jul 14 2011 7:58AM

I've revamped my blog page a little bit. The goal is to get you as connected with the Buffalo Bills as possible. Whenever training camp kicks off, all my main articles will still be on the homepage. But RIGHT HERE is the spot to get the inside scoop on things -- to get the little factoids and nuggets of information about your favorite Bills' players that you'll casually bring in to conversation with your friends. At least, that's the plan.

Here's to hoping the lockout ends soon! On to the blog:

NFL.com's Bucky Brooks rips the Bills to shreds for bringing back Shawne Merriman.
- Brooks does raise legitimate concerns about Merriman, but I think he's putting a little too much emphasis on the money. If Merriman sees out the contract, then yes, he'll see the full dollar amount on the contract. But if he's not ready to go for the season once training camp is through, it's merely $2.5 million to him. That's chump change in the NFL especially when every year up to this season had 'bonus baby' players who received huge sums just for being a top pick. I'll take my chances with Merriman.

Bills S and player rep George Wilson went to the ESPYs last night.
"Just left the awards show, really enjoyed it, especially the award presentations for the award for courage and the perseverance award."
- By the way, if you missed it. George appeared on the Howard Simon Show earlier this week.

Soon to be former Bills S Donte Whitner sends out yet another cryptic tweet.
"Soon u all will understand"
- Donte has had quite a love/hate relationship with fans on his Twitter account. He's likely out the door in Buffalo due to a desire for a higher salary, and with guys like Wilson, Bryan Scott and Da'Norris Searcy in the fold to possibly replace him.

WR David Nelson gave a lucky follower a prize on Twitter for identifying where he was.
- Nelson is apparently in New York City, and gave the lucky fan an autographed University of Florida helmet. Even if it is a Gators helmet (Seminoles fan, here), Nelson does giveaways like this a whole lot on Twitter. It's nice to see players that build interpersonal relationships with their fans.

Old Buffalo Bills turf needs suitors.
- As the Bills continue to put in the brand new A-Turf, of which you can see pictures I snapped here, Erie County is looking for something to do with the old stuff. There are rolls and rolls of the old turf, so the county is giving not-for-profit organizations until August 15 to put together a proposal for what they would do with the turf. There is some cost involved if the organization were to put it outside, but it would likely be minimal if it were to be put in indoor facilities.